Thunderbird
by Yrmbe
Summary: Louise summons a strange and odd familiar. Raven comes into service of an overbearing and uptight master.
1. Chapter 1

Louise was disappointed. No, that wasn't the right word, too strong of a word to describe her feelings right now, and in fact she should be far from disappointed. After giving the usual show of a violent, but generally expected explosion, she delivered proof right in front of herself and her peers that she was no so called "Zero". She had summoned a familiar, an act that not only allowed her to continue to attend her prestigious academy, but was also her first spell that worked. Normally, these facts would make her overjoyed, but those emotions hit a snag in the details, some little asterisk that stopped her from parading through the streets, and that little thing was her familiar. Louise expected it to be some magnificent beast, a graceful creature, a being that would put all the other familiars to shame and end the merciless bullying from her classmates because; after all, a familiar reflects the mage who summoned it and she had much to reflect upon. Considering her expectations, it would be pretty obvious as to why Louise's attitude was a little sour when her familiar ended up being a raven. A small, humble little raven who looked rather awkward. Not awkward in the sense that it was misshapen, though it looked a little odd with its upright posture, but awkward in the sense that its expression conveyed some discomfort, most likely from being at the center of attention from so many new and judgmental eyes. Louise observed the raven glance around several times with its wide eyed face.

"Ms. Valliere" Colbert whispered "Complete the summoning"

Snapping out of her thoughts, Louise quickly realized that her familiar might fly away in fear and so she slowly approached it, carefully placing her steps so as not no alert the bird. Before it knew it, Louise had it in her hands and gently pecked the raven square on the forehead before placing it back down on the ground. She stared at it, seeing the bird's inner machinations working to process everything as a rune seared itself upon its chest. The appearance of the rune caught the raven by surprise, startling it into falling back.

"Whoa hey, what'd you just do to me!" it yelped.

Louise froze, everyone froze, bewildered. It spoke. HE spoke. No one else knew what to say, nor even what to do! Familiars don't speak and yet Louise's just did!

"Are uh you okay there miss?" He looked around to see if anyone could help him, only to see similar situations. "Was it something I said?"

"You talked!" Louise admitted

"Right, yeah I forgot that I don't normally talk to humans." He sheepishly replied. "I should introduce myself; My name is Raven." He stuck out his wing to gesture her for her name.

Louise took deep breath, coming back to the task at hand. "My name is Louise Valliere, your new master, familiar."

"Familiar? Uh…what exactly is that?"

"A familiar is a being that we mages summon to accompany and protect us. As such, they are binded to the summoner by the rune emplaced upon them, such as they one upon your chest."

Raven contemplated this information. "So let me get this straight; a familiar is like a pet, right? And they're obligated to be with the summoner by this "rune" put on them. The same rune on me. So that means…?"

"You are my familiar" Louise finished.

"I don't know if this is the right thing for me, I mea- " Raven stopped immediately as he felt a strange tingling sensation crawl up his back. Eyes were watching him, a set of very hungry eyes. He slowly turned around to see his stalker; a large blue dragon with drool dripping out of its jaws. The mere sight of it filled Raven with terror.

"Get me out of here."

"What?"

"I said get me out of here!" Raven begged "As far away from that thing" as He hysterically pointed at Tabitha's dragon as he flew up to Louise's face. "Please!" He begged even more loudly. This was becoming an even more awkward situation for Louise.

"Alright we'll leave." She complied

Louise cradled Raven in her arms as he securely snuggled in, safe from the dragon at last. Louise, on the other hand, didn't feel safe in the slightest. She could hear the jeers from her classmates concerning her familiar playing in her head, though they didn't really bother her that much. She got used to it by that point. Kirche was the one that was most on her mind; That germanian harlot was just building up her arsenal with every moment of her ritual, Louise knew it. Had it not been for her bombshell of a summoning, she would've undoubtedly slung some insults out her the moment she laid eyes upon the raven. For now, however, it was time to go to her room and get to know her peculiar familiar.

**Line Break**

A thousand questions racked their brains as they both thought out their respective interrogations, yet neither made the first move. Louise was still conflicted with her feelings; should she feel disappointed? Excited? She didn't really know besides the fact that she was feeling confused. The most pressing question that seemed to confuse her the most was: How does a talking Raven reflect me? What does this say about my personality? She began running down a list of her familiar's qualities. For one, he's fearful, though I suspect anyone would be when a dragon is eyeing them up for dinner. He also seems clueless as seems to ask so many questions. Is that what it's like to be summoned as a familiar? To suddenly pop into a strange world you have no knowledge of? It didn't seem that way for the other familiars, however they never spoke, nor seemed to have the same level of sentience as her familiar. Although familiars were magnificent beasts in their own right, though some more than others, they had the same intelligence as your average well trained hound. Louise's familiar, however, exhibited an unusual amount of intelligence, being able to think, act, and speak like a person. The fact that he can speak at all was such an anomaly to Louise that just thinking about it made her head hurt and yet she was still curious, though she had been avoiding that subject to save herself from an even larger migraine.

Raven observed his "summoner" carefully, seeing the gears move in her head as he planned out his interrogation. He had no idea why he was there, who she is, what this place is, or even where he was! Honestly, Raven didn't deserve this level of stress, his friends commented on his molting lately and they think he's been stressing out too much. His friends! He almost forgot! They must be missing him right now! Raven had no time for questions, he had to move. He started fluttering towards the window before Louise blocked.

"Where are you going?" Louise inquired

"Oh! I-uh-was just hoping on getting some air" He tugged on his shoulder to try to relieve some tension.

"First things first, who are you?" she asked

"Like I said, I'm Raven" He stated matter o factly

Louise interrogated further, "You say that as if that means anything"

"It's just my name. What'd you want, that I'm the great raven?" he huffed

"But what does that even mean? A familiar is supposed to represent the very essence of its master, but what do you say even about me?"

"I don't know! I don't even know what the heck is going on! I mean, you're telling me I've been summoned out of nowhere to be some sort servant or pet or whatever" Raven ranted "Like- wait a second. Why are there two moons?" He hopped onto the window sill and pointed outside to the twin celestial bodies lighting up the night sky.

Louise pinched her nose. Was her familiar just crazy? Was that a side effect of giving a common bird the gift of sentience? That it would completely lose its mind from the shock of an explosion of knowledge? If she still was trying to figure all this out and the conclusions she was getting to weren't making her happy.

"There's always been two moons." She stated

"No there hasn't, there's been one!"

"That's ridiculous, there's been two since the dawn of time!" Louise dismissed

"Well not where I'm from!" Then something went off in Raven. A terrible, far-fetched thought, but one that gained merit with every second.

"Not where I'm from" he slowly repeated, dissecting the statement

"Honestly, what are you talking about?" Louise demanded

"Where did you say we are?" Raven asked

"The nation of Tristain, on the continent of Halkeginia, Why?"

Raven's mind kicked into overdrive. Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh! OH MY GOSH! Oh. My. Gosh. Was he just transported to another continent!? Another planet! Possibly even another dimension?! How's he going to get back home? His friends are probably worried sick and he's stuck here being a pet to this witch! A continued flurry of thoughts swirled in Raven's head, violently clashing into each other as he tried to deal with this revelation. To Louise, however, Raven was still standing on the window sill, completely blank in expression.

"This is worrying" Louise thought aloud "Familiar? Hello? What's wrong with you know?" She asked, bending down to her familiar for a closer inspection

"Another world. Another. World" Raven chanted softly

"Oh thank goodness" Louise sighed "I was worried you had broke-"

Raven jumped on Louise's collar and pulled tightly "You gotta send me back!" he demanded hysterically

"Let go of me! What are you babbling about now?!"

"I don't know if you understand, but I'm not from here, I'm from Trollburg where we only have one moon." Raven spelled out

"Impossible. That just can't happen, I mean how could I- I mean how is it even? You're crazy!"

"I'm telling you the truth. I'm not from here! Look, even if you don't believe me, you gotta send me back." Raven adopted a more serious and stoic expression "I have people that miss me"

Her familiar had people and she plucked him away from them. A rock dropped in Louise's stomach. Not only had she botched her summoning by bringing forth whatever her familiar was, she basically kidnapped him.

Louise dismissively huffed "I'm sorry, it's impossible, the spell only works one way."

"Well you have to try, you're the only hope I have of ever getting back home." Raven begged

Louise remained silent, swallowed with guilt. This poor creature was whisked away by her own doing, but she had a reputation to uphold, a responsibility to uphold the honor of her family name. However, she didn't want it to be this way, to know the woes of her familiar, the troubles it's suffering under her. Everyone else had it easier, their familiars never complained about their servitude, in fact they seemed to enjoy it. Louise's life was never easy and things would only get harder.

Louise tightened her grip on her wand. "I can't help you. I'm sorry."

Raven's face grew sullen, his body language communicating that he had lost hope. Seeing him this way dragged Louise down with him. This was to be her magnificent familiar, a grand insignia of her entire being and here it was moping on floor defeated and hopeless. She did feel some twinge of pity, empathizing with her familiar's predicament. In a way, he reminded her of herself.

Louise took up a more resolute posture. "I may not be able to help you, but I might be able to find someone who can."

Raven's body jolted back to life with his hope restored. "Really! You'll do that?! Oh thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" He flew up to Louise's leg and hugged it tightly, thankful that he wasn't gone just yet.

"But in the meantime" Louise added "I need you to act as my familiar"


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

You know, being a familiar wasn't exactly the worst gig in the world. It was like being a pet. Now, Raven never really understood the whole appeal behind being a pet at first. He preferred the open air, the freedom to do whatever you want, when you want, the way he wants. Yet, every now and then he couldn't stop thinking about what it would be like to live the pampered life, to have someone take care of you, to fulfill all your basic needs. Sure you'd get cooped up in a house most of the time, but a house can be pretty cozy and at least kids didn't throw rocks at you inside the house. At least most kids. Though If Raven was going to commit to this sort of life, he'd need to set up some ground roles.

"I want to first establish that we're in equal standing here" Raven laid out "I get that you sort of own me, but I'm still an individual, with thoughts and feelings. So don't even think about playing fetch or telling me to roll over".

"Of course." Came Louise's token response. She seemed distracted. Either that or Raven's ground rules were being ignored. Maybe even both? Probably both.

"Okay what's going on here? Are you even paying attention?"

"When was the last time you took a bath?"

"What?"

"Aren't you a wild animal?" Louise asked "I can't imagine you being very clean, even if your shiny feathers say otherwise"

"I washed in the bird bath this morning. I live in the city, not the mountains sheesh." Raven defended

"A bird bath!" Louise gasped "Oh nonononono, that won't do. I'll have a maid come up and wash you immediately".

"What! Why?"

"For your information, a filthy public bird bath is not the cleanest place for one to clean themselves, especially for one who is going to call themselves my familiar. A public bath will simply not do" Louise explained in a condescending tone.

Raven took offense to such an attitude, "Well for YOUR information, Bird baths have been working perfectly fine for me" he argued.

"Ms. Valliere?" A quiet voice called behind the door

"That was fast" Louise commented under hear breath. She opened the door to find a timid maid behind it and ushered her in before giving her orders. "Yes, I need you to clean my familiar. He's an extremely messy bird, so do be sure to scrub thoroughly"

The maid, however, was staring at the bird, entranced by its rather unorthodox appearance. She suddenly snapped to attention, remembering her duties. "Uh- yes as you wish". She went to grab the familiar before it backed away.

"Whoa now. I'm telling you I don't need a bath alright!" The maid went in for another grab, only for Raven to flutter above her grasp. "I'm telling you, cut it out, I can clean myself" He warned, but Siesta continued to try to take a hold of Raven, gently at first until the easy way proved too difficult. "Please, just stay still" she pleaded as she attempted to grasp the bird around the room. Eventually, she just gave up and man handled the skittish familiar and whisked him away to a bath.

"Oh and get my laundry while you're at it!" Louise added as they left her room. "Hm, how did she get here so fast?"

**Line Break**

As timid as she appeared to be, Siesta was no lightweight. Being a maid, after all, required a degree of poise, strength, and diligence, especially in the halls of a high class academy. So no matter how much the tiny familiar tried to squirm out of her grasp, Siesta would not budge. What a strange familiar. She had heard rumors of a talking familiar being summoned today, and when she had heard that the Valliere girl was its master, she was curious to find out what all the hub bub was about. Sure, it would've been embarrassing if she was caught listening in on a noble's conversation, but she couldn't help it. Besides everything worked out in the end, Ms. Valliere required a maid and she was already there. To clean her familiar.

"Look" the Raven continued to struggle "how about we strike a deal? You let me go and you don't have to clean me." He propsed

"Ms. Valliere gave me an order and I am obliged to comply" Siesta stoutly replied

"Yeah, well do you really need to? I mean, I'm trying to make your life easier, so what don't I scratch your back and you'll scratch mine, you know?"

Siesta stopped walking and looked at the bird, "you are strange familiar, aren't you?" The maid probed

"Maybe we should restart. My friends Raven" He struck out his wing, offering a sort of handshake. Siesta apprehensively looked at the gesture before slowly taking it.

"My name is Siesta" she replied gingerly

"So" Raven took a hot second to figure out how to keep the conversation going "How's the weather?" How's weather? That was stupid. Siesta promptly resumed her way to the bath. Raven thought of something quickly to keep it going.

"How are you talking" Siesta blurted

"What?"

"I'm sorry" she turned her head away ashamedly "I'm sorry for asking such a rude question"

"No, it's an okay question I guess. Animals probably don't talk here I'm guessing?"

Siesta cocked her head curiously "They talk where you're from? Where do you come from exactly? I've never seen anything like you before"

Raven took a deep breath. He was about to blow some minds "I come from Trollburg, which I think could be on another planet?" He faltered with every word, realizing with each utterance how ridiculous the claim was. Heck, he didn't even know if Louise believed him.

Siesta was bewildered by the idea, not exactly dismissive as these were very strange times, but confused nonetheless "Another world? How-how can that be possible?!"

"Well believe it. Where I'm from, we've only got one moon."

"One moon?!" Siesta almost yelled. She almost forgot the hour it was; she wouldn't want to disturb anyone else.

"Yeah, so I can't just fly back home, y'know? This is probably the second craziest thing that's happened to me" Raven continued talking, going off on random tangents and creating new conversations, but Siesta wasn't paying attention. Instead the poor girl was deep in thought. Another world? Where has she heard that before. Back home, her family told stories of a man who suddenly appeared fell from the sky, trapped within a metal beast. He spoke a strange language, dressed in strange clothing, and carried with him strange tools. He looked like no one any sort of person on the continent, it was as if he was from another world. Siesta was that man's descendant, but she never paid too much thought about it, but now, with his strange creature from another world, she couldn't help but think on it.

As Siesta was out of her thoughts, Raven was finishing his story, "So then she told me I was the Thunderbird"

"I'm sorry, what was that? I apologize, but I was still thinking through all of this 'other world' business. You said Thunderbird? What does that mean?"

"Nah, it's alright. My friends say I can get a little chatty sometimes. Anyways, a thunderbird is-" His words stopped there and pondered for a moment. He raised his wing to something else, but quickly stopped himself before he could say it. "You know what? Let me just show you"

"But what about your bath? Ms. Valliere gave me an explicit order-"

"Do you wanna see it or not? Tell you what, I'll take a bath after I show you what I'm talking about. Trust me, you don't want to miss this"

After considering her options, Siesta hesitantly went with the Familiar outside


End file.
